Much of what I've been writing about so far has been about where we are, what interesting (this is perhaps subjective) things we've been up to, and where we're headed. What's also maybe worth a mention though is that just 2 weeks into the sailing portion of our trip, we've already settled into a bit of a routine and can give some insight on a typical day.

Depending how far we have to go and what the wind is like, we get up somewhere between 7 and 9am - most days we aim to leave by 9am and miss this by varying degrees (anywhere between 5 minutes and 2 hours). Breakfast is invariably yoghurt, granola and honey plus sliced banana for Gerard - if there was ever a sign of true love, it's the fact that I make breakfast most days because I HATE banana with a burning passion! Until recently breakfast was supplemented by espresso from our little coffee maker but somehow we seem to have misplaced one of the 3 components; how anything gets lost in such a confined space is a bit of a mystery in itself, hopefully it'll turn up. We listen to the weather forecast to see what's in store for us that day - we can usually rely on no wind at all or good wind from exactly the direction we want to go in (neither is good). Gerard prepares the boat outside: attaching ropes, taking covers off, putting the ensign out (it's a red flag with a Union Jack in the corner which we have to fly because Starfire is English-registered); and I do the inside: closing windows (open ones are not conducive to waterproofness), tidying everything away into cupboards (so it doesn't fly around when the boat tilts over), securing doors, etc. If we're in a marina then we have the luxury of topping up our water tank - it is totally shocking how much water we get through! About 200 litres every 3-4 days and that's excluding showers and with an effort to use it conservatively. Before we leave we have a quick chat about how we're going to detach ourselves from whatever we've been attached to for the night since experience has taught us that things go much more smoothly if we're both executing a similar plan. Then we're off!

We motor out of the anchorage/marina because the engine allows a bit more control over what direction you go in (which is preferable when there are other boats and/or rocks around) and once we're out in the open we hoist the sails as soon as we think there's enough wind to get us moving - sometimes that's right away and sometimes it takes an hour or two (or five). We keep a log every hour (ish); it's a legal requirement but actually it's quite nice to see the progress you're making and also good to check you're on the right course. I've been taking charge of navigation because I quite like it and so far we've been ending up where we intended to - conclusion: women are awesome at map reading, men take note! We have music for entertainment while we're en route and we were able to pick up some brilliant Italian radio stations while we were sailing around Sardinia - sadly the French ones don't seem to extend past the coastline so now we're in Corsica we're having to make do with Gerard's ipod (mostly acceptable but every now and then there's a rogue cowboy film theme-tune or some random techno anthem - disturbing). In general we've been doing 6-7 hour passages so we usually arrive at our destination late afternoon/early evening. We attach ourselves again (Gerard's better at steering so he does that while I sort out the anchor or mooring lines), we put the boat to bed (covers back on, tidying up ropes, etc) and then it's about time for a glass of wine and thoughts about dinner. We've been quite enjoying cooking on the boat despite the resultant washing up, so most nights that's what we do. It's meant we've become total supermarket junkies though, we can't walk past one without going in to top up on fresh produce. It's actually very possible that our efforts to explore the places we're stopping at could just be a thinly veiled excuse to increase our chances of walking past a supermarket…

So that's about it for a typical day but what's been nice is that every day something new happens to keep us entertained. The scenery is constantly changing, as is the weather - we've already had quite some excitement with thunderstorms which seem to pass over exclusively when we're anchored in a secluded bay with no-one else around (which in itself is not a problem, it just leaves you pretty dependent on the strength of your anchor/mooring buoy and darkness has a tendency to drain confidence). We had a really lovely stay in Bonifacio, such a cute town. Sailing in past the cliffs with all the little townhouses perched on top, we already knew we were in for something special. We found a path that took us along the cliffs to a lighthouse and took a picnic, such a nice way to stretch our legs after 2 weeks with just 11m to play with! We've seen dolphins twice now but no photographic evidence unfortunately so I won't play it up too much just yet. We also had another shot at fishing which was reasonably successful - we caught 3 fish about twice the size of our last catch but 2 managed to get away before we could get them on the boat. The unlucky third was lunch! The last 2 days there's been hardly any wind which has forced us to engine a fair bit (annoying) but also allowed us to drop the anchor and have lunch in some of the amazing bays along the west coast of Corsica which are usually too exposed to the prevailing winds. The forecast suggests the wind is going to pick up though so we're hoping to get some distance in and get up to Calvi in the next few days. We've been toying with the idea of crossing to Monaco and back but will have to see how the weather looks - not keen on motoring the whole way and definitely want to avoid the risk (i.e. cost) of having to wait there indefinitely for a window to sail back!